El Paso County approves budget cuts

Roads will get rougher, restaurants won't be inspected, and more inmates will pack the jail, but most residents won't feel the $9.1 million in budget reductions El Paso County commissioners approved Monday.

The trims from nearly every county department culminated what officials said was a financial crisis long in the pipeline. County commissioners who are now out of office voted to cut taxes and increase services in flush times. Then the economy tanked, revenues from taxes and fees were lower than expected, and costs for items such as employee health care went higher.

Commissioner Dennis Hisey said the cuts do not resolve the county's budget troubles.

"Without additional revenue, 2009 is not going to be pretty," he said.

The commissioners tentatively agreed to cut $507,000 from the Department of Health and Environment. That leaves about $14.5 million in the department's budget for 2008, only a quarter of it from the county. The health department will cut its inspections of tattoo parlors, quit overseeing the cleanup of meth labs and eliminate a suicide prevention program, among other cuts.

The commissioners also approved chopping $500,000 from the Department of Transportation, leaving the agency with about $15 million to build and maintain roads.

Other highlights from the list of cuts:

• $280,000 from the Department of Parks and Leisure Services under a plan that keeps open the county's two nature centers and doesn't sell any park land.
• $400,000 from the Fleet Management Department, meaning the county won't be able to buy new vehicles, among other things.
• $100,000 from the Information Technology Department, which manages the county's computer systems.

The cuts represent about 4 percent of the county's $233 million in spending planned for this year. The county's 1 percent sales tax brings in about $70 million annually. Its property tax, which runs about $99 this year on a $200,000 house, brings in about $39 million.

Several government services were spared the ax. The Department of Veterans Services had identified $15,000 it could cut from its annual budget of $261,415. The commissioners decided to keep the department whole rather than slice an agency that helps veterans get through the government bureaucracy.

Also untouched was the county's spending on the 25 vehicles certain employees are allowed to take home and drive around for work, and the 17 employees who get $500 per month as a "vehicle stipend."

The biggest savings, $3 million, will come from converting a reserve fund from cash into property. While the county is required to have a reserve fund, that fund can be in county assets as opposed to cash.

The county will raise another $2 million by essentially mortgaging the building that houses the Department of Human Services.

The commissioners expect to formally ratify the cuts at a meeting June 9. On the same day, they'll hear from a citizen group that wants to ask voters for a 1 percent sales tax in the November election. The money from the new tax would largely go to the county government.

Hisey said he's ready to approve such a measure for the ballot "if I see something that looks like it's going to address the long-term needs."